Gas lighter



v May 3, 1966 Filed May 18, 1964 ToMoJlRo zAlMA 3,248,906

GAS LIGHTER 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

BY oda/@4121 @4l/0M 6 fag May 3, 1966 ToMoJlRo ZAIMA 3,248,906

GAS LIGHTER Filed May 18, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVENTOR.

Bud

United States Patent O 3,248,906 GAS LIGHTER Tomojiro Zaima, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Zaima Manufacturing Company Limited, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,079 Claims priority, application Japan, Mar. 24, 1964,

4 Claims. (Cl. 67-7.1)

This invention relates to a gas lighter.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved nozzle for a fuel introducing device for a gas lighter. Burners for the well-known gas lighters are generally provided at a position which is vertically above the fuel introducing device. This has resulted inevitably from the fact that the front end of a valve rod serves as Va burner in the fuel introducing device. In consequence, the positon of burner has been restricted to a predetermined position on the main lighter body.- For the reason that the fuel introducing device necessitates a construction which isl complicated to some extent in order to function properly, an increase in the volume of the lighter is inevitable. Even when the burner is provided at the center of the main lighter body or at the end, the said portion of the main lighter body will be enlarged, making the lighter inconvenient to grasp. Hence, in the present invention the burner may be positioned appropriately by providing a tubular body connected to the fuel feeding device to avoid the defects of the above-mentioned well-known gas lighters.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a smoothly performing valve for the fuel feeding device of the gas lighter. The valve provided in the fuel feeding device for a well-known gas lighter is retained in a valve-closed condition by means of the spring force of a spring, and when the valve is to be opened, the valve is raised against the spring force of the abovementioned spring by means of the front end of a lever connected with the burner lid of the main lighter body. Therefore, the valve does not move in a vertical direction but is lifted along a circular arc. On the other hand, a lever is provided and a space is needed for actuating said lever, increasing the volume of the main lighter body disadvantageously. In the present invention, a valve body is positioned above a thrust body having a hole in the center, and a valve opening spring is provided between said valve body and thrust body, and when the lighter lid is closed valve closing spring having a higher spring force than said valve opening spring and inserted between said push rod and valve body acts to keep the form of an extremely fine clearance between the two valve body closed, so that the opening and closing of i valve of said valve body is caused by the vertical movement of said valve -body in accordance with the opening and closing of the lighter lid, thus eliminating the defects from said well-known gas lighter.

A third object of the present inventionl is to improve the hole in the fuel-introduction device of the gas lighter.

Generally, in a gas lighter, liquid stored in the fuel tank is gasied through an appropriate fuel introduction device, and in order to get a flame of the necessary degree for a burner, a hole in the fuel-introduction device of extremely small diameter is sufficient.

However, the cutting of an extremely small diameter parts. When fuel is introduced through the hole the above-mentioned defects are avoided, and further said mechanism is positioned directly before the point at which the gasification of the fuel is effected and, at the same time, a valve mechanism is added thereto to insure that once the fuel is gasied it remains in the fuel-introduction device, in order to prevent the instantaneous occurrence of excesive flame at the time of ignition caused by remaining gasilied fuel.

A fourth object of the present invention is .'to improve the fuel inlet vlalve for supplying liquefied fuel to the main lighter body (fuel tank) equipped with the abovementioned fuel-introduction device.

One embodiment of the gas lighter according to the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings by way of example, wherein similar par-ts are designated by similar symbols Land in which FIG. 1 is a side view of the lighter according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view thereof;

\FIG. 3 is a front sectional view thereof on an en- 'larged scale;

PIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional View of the fuel discharging device 'by itself; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the fuel inlet device, with fuel being poured into the fuel tank through -a mouthpiece of a fuel cartridge `screwed into the fuel inlet device.

The lighter has a casing 67 to which an arm 39 having a cover 8 is pivoted on a pin 37. An igniter, such as a flint rubbed by an abrasive wheel 64 is mounted on a mounting member 14 at the portion of casing 67 irnmediiately beneath cover 8.

The fuel discharge device a comprises a cylindrical body 1 secured in airtight relationship to the top plate 311 of the fuel tank 311, a thrust body 2 accommodated in said cylindrical body 1 and having a bore 3 in the center thereof, and a ne rod 4 positioned in said bore 3, an annular passage v5 being defined between the body 1 and the rod 4. 1

The cylindrical body 1 is rmly secured to the top plate 311 on the fuel tank 31 with an outer peripheral step 11 Aagainst the outer surface of top plate 31, and the lower half Iof the body extending down into said fuel tank 31. An aperture 24 is provided in the bottom thereof. A tube 25 has a flange 251 in the bottom of cylind-rical body 1 and extends through said perforation 24 into the fuel tank 31, and a piece of gauze 28 lies on the upper face of flange 251. A fibrous material wick 26 opens through the flange 251 at a perforation 27. The thrust body 2 has a tubular extension 21 on the lower portion thereof and a valve seat 22 on the upper end and has the bore 3 in the center. The fine rod 4 extends upwardly from the center of a base plate 29 which rests on said piece of gauze 28, and which has the periphery thereof spacedf-rom the inner wall of body 1 to deline an annular passage 32. A porous and elastic filtering member 30 fills the space between the base plate 2-1 and the bottom of extension 21. An annular packing 23 is positioned around the outer periphery of extension 21 on thrust k body 2, and the upper portion of cylindrical body 1 is thus sealed olf from the lower portion thereof.

'Fuel in the fuel tank 31 in a liquefied state filters through the filtering member 30 after pas-sing through the wick 26, gauze 28 and passage 32, and is thus ready to be discharged in the liquelied state through the bore 3 upon opening of a valve se-ated against the valve seat 22 on thrust body 2.

A valve mechanism b controlling the opening and closing `of bore 3 in thrust body 2 comprises a valve head holding member 6, a spring 7 around member 6 tending to move Ithe valve head holding member away from the valve seat 22 and a spring 10 tending to ur-ge the member 6 toward the valve seat. Furthermore, a rotatable cylindrical tube 34 having notch 33 at the lower end thereof and a diameter slightly smaller than of cylindrical sbody 1 is positioned within the cylindrical body I1, and has external threads 351 threaded into internal threads 35 on body 1 .and is positioned with the lower end abutted against the upper surface of thrust body 2, an annular gasifying chamber 11 being defined between the cylindrical body 1 and tube 34.

The valve head holding member 6 is positioned in tube 34 .and has a recess in the lower face in which is mounted a valve head 36 for contacting the valve seat 22, the valveopening spring 7 being positioned between the member 6 andthrust body 2. When the cover 8 on the front end of arm 39 rotatable around the pin 37 is closed, a push rod 9 isv pushed down by said arm 39 and extends down into the tube 34 through an aperture 141 in the mounting member 14 and an aperture 342 in top plate 341 of the tube 34, the lower end of push rod 9 having a thrust portion 91 and .a packing 92 around .the push rod 9 at the lower face of said top plate 341. The valve closing spring 110 is between the thrust portion 91 of push rod 9 and has a higher spring force than valve-closing spring 10. Accordingly, when the cover 8 is closed, the valve-closing spring is pushed down by the push rod 9, and the valve-opening spring 7 is pushed down by valve head holding member 6, to maintain the valve-closed condition (see FIG. 3). When the burner cover 8 is opened, the force on push rod 9 from arm 39 will be released and, as a result, the rod is raised .and the spring 10 is extended. The valve head holding member 6 is raised upwardly against the spring 10, by Virtue of spring force of valveopening spring 7 and the pressure of the fuel tending to 1be ejected from bore 3, and the valve is opened. The liquelied fuel in the bore 3 is ejected into the gasifying chamber 11 in the giasilied state.

By means of the fuel feeding device c composed of the above-mentioned fuel discharge device a and valve mechanism b, the gasilied fuel is fed to the burner 13 adjacent the ignition mechanism composed of an ignition llint (not illustrated) and the wheel 64 rotated by a roller 65 journalled at one corner of the outer casing 67 covering the fuel tank 31 and ignition mechanism mounting member 14. The burner 13 is covered with said burner cover 8. Moreover, the burner device d, feeding the gasied fuel to the burner 13, extends through an aperture 15 in the ignition-mechanism mounting member 14, said burner being at one end of a tube 12 the other end of which opens into the gasifying chamber 11 between the cylindrical body 1. Accordingly, the gasied fuel discharged from bore 3 passes through notch 33 and lills the gasifying chamber 11 and is led directly to the burner 13, to be ignited by means of the ignition mechanism. In this case, the amount of fuel fed to the burner 13 is adjusted by alternating the pressure on the filtering member 30 by vertically moving the rotatable tube 34 through a nger wheel 4: 62 by revolving the tube 34 so as to thread the threads 35 down along threads 35. The linger wheel 62 is mounted on the top plate 341 of tube 34 and protrudes slightly through an opening -671 in the front surface of outer casing 67 so that it can be rotated by a linger. The abovementioned linger wheel 62 is provided with a stopper 63 which limits the range of rotary movement of tube 34 by contacting the inner surface of outer casing 67 at the predetermined rotational position.

Further, the end of arm 39 adjacent the pivot pin 37 has a projecting portion 391 bearing against a top plate 661 of a cover tube 66 covering a spring 38 accommodated in a recess 142 of ignition mechanism mounting member 14, and which spring imparts a force to the projecting portion tending to keep the burner lid 8 open or closed.

The fuel tank 31 also has fuel inlet device e which is a solid stem lift type filler mechanism which permits smooth lilling of the tank with the necessary quantity of fuel. The fuel inlet device e comprises a tubular body 18 secured to the bottom plate 40 of fuel tank 31, an air valve 17 accommodated in said tubular body 1S and a valve lift stem 21 loaded by a spring 23.

The tubular body 18 is threaded into a receiving cylinder 41 secured to the bottom plate 40 and is divided by a partition wall 19 into an outer chamber 43 and an inner chamber 44. The interior wall of chamber 43- is th`r`eaded with screw threads 42. Air valve 17 has a hollow cylindrical Ibody 46 with a ange 45 on one end thereof in the outer chamber 43, and the body extends through an aperture 191 in the partition wall 19 with Aan appropriate clearance left therearound. A packing 47 is mounted on the end of said body portion 46 of air valve 17 which is in the' inner chamber 44, and an air hole 16 extends through the side wall of inner chamber 44 adjacent the normal position of the packing 47 and is ordinarily closed by said packing 47. The valve lift stem 21 extends through the bore 20 in the air valve 17 and has a flange 22 thereon which is normally in contact with the inner end surface of air valve 17 to close the bore 20. The flange 22 has an extension 211 thereon having a length such that it does not reach the end plate 49 of the body 18, which has an aperture 48 therein. The upper surface of extension 211 has a notch 212 therein. The other end 213 oflvalve lift stern 21 protrudes from the flange 45 and is positioned in the outer chamber 43. The bore 20 is kept closed by virtue of the lift stem 21 being urged outwardly by the force of spring 23 positioned between the flange 22 and end plate 49. Around the bore 20 where it opens out of liange 45 of said -air-valve 17 is a packing 59.

Because the packing 47 closing the air hole 16 is held between the inside surface of partition wall 19 and the lower surface of lift stem flange 22, the air-valve 17 does not come further out into the outer chamber 43. The lower end 672 of the outer casing 67 surrounds the end portion of fuel inlet device e and the bottom plate 40, and a threaded cover 61 having threads 611 inserted through hole 601 in the middle of a cover plate 60 inserted into the bottom of casing 67 engages the screw threads 42 in outer chamber 43. The chamber 43 is thereby closed and simultaneously the cover sheet 60 is held in place.

The mouthpiece 51 for a gas supply device which feeds liquid fuel to fuel tank 31 in cooperation with the fuel inlet device e is provided with external screw threads 50 engaging with screw threads 42 in outer chamber 43, while the front end plate 56 has seats 561 and 562 around at the outer and inner ends of the discharge opening 57 in the center of plate 56. In the mouthpiece 51 is positioned a partition plate 52 having an aperture 521 in the center thereof. In the aperture 521 is positioned the inner end 581 of valve rod 58 and in the discharge opening 57 is the outer end 582 of valve rod 58, and in order to impart a tendency of valve rod 58 to move outwardly, a spring 54 is provided, having a stronger spring force than the spring 23 acting against said valve lift stem 21. The spring extends between the plate 52 and packing holding member 53 secured to said valve' rod 58 and holding a packing 55, and normally the packing S5 is pushed against the valve seat 561 to close the opening 57.

In order to supply the fuel tank 31 with liquefied fuel from a gas supply device, the threaded cover 61 closing the threaded outer chamber 43 is withdrawn through the central hole 601 in cover plate 60 and the mouthpiece S1 for the gas supply device is threaded into the chamber 43 and the outer end 582 of valve rod v58 abuts the outer end 213 of valve lift stem 21 (see FIG. 5), and by continuing the threading further the valve lift stem 21 is moved inwardly against the action of springA 23 until the end of rod 211 strikes the cover plate 49 and the passage 20 of air valve 17 is opened. Simultaneously the seat 562 on the front end plate 56 of mouthpiece 51 bears against packing 59 on flange 45 of air valve 17. With further movement, the seat 562 pushes air valve 17 to move it inwardly and to move packing 47 so as to open the air hole 16. Air and evaporated gas are discharged outwardly from the air hole 16 along the outer periphery of air valve 17 along the aperture 191 in partition wall 19, through chamber 43, and through the clearance between the threads 42 of chamber 43 and the threads on the mouthpiece 51. At the same time,

yvalve rod 58 moves into the gas supply device against the force of spring 54, and packing 55 is separated from seat 561 to open discharge opening 57 and pour liquid fuel through aperture 521 in partition 52 through mouthpiece 51 through the discharge opening 57, through bore 20, inner chamber 44 and aperture 48 in the cover plate 49 and thus into the fuel tank 31.

When the mouthpiece 51 is started to be withdrawn from the outer chamber 43 and the seat 562 is separated from air valve 17, said air valve 17 moves outwardly under the pressure of the spring in inner chamber 44 to close the air hole 16 to stop exhaust of gas, and further when the withdrawal operation is continued, the valve rod 58 is moved outwardly by spring 54, returning to the original position, and closing the discharge opening 57 to stop the flow of fuel and simultaneously return the valve lift stem 21 to the original position to close the passage 20.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, the machining technique for forming the bores for discharging the fuel is simplified when a fine rod 4 is positioned in the bore 3 in the fuel discharging mechanism a of the fuel feeding device c, and no ne circular hole is needed in the applicants device. In addition, because the above-mention-ed clearance is annular, the whole bore will not be blocked at the same time by the impurities in the fuel. Moreover, the condition in which the gasified fuel remains in the burner is avoided by the cooperation of valve mechanism b, and the instantaneous and excessively large flame occurring at the time of ignition does not take place, because this is caused by such remaining gasified fuel.

Since the body 6 of valve mechanism b is raised vertically against the action of valve-closing spring 10 and reaches the valve open condition under the action of Valveopening spring 7 and the discharge force of fuel in bore 3, the total volume of the device can be reduced and the opening and closing operation of the device is smooth and exact, because no lever is used, contrary to the case of prior art devices.

Because the burner device d enables the location of the burner 13 at any desired position because of the use of the tubular body 12, this device is entirely free from the defect of the prior art devices that the burner is required always to be vertically above the fuel feeding device. As the device c for feeding fuel is free from any requirements as to. its position, the manuacture of lighters is made easy. Furthermore, since the fuel inlet device e includes a freely slidable air-valve 17 and valve lift stern 21, and because the air-valve 17 is operated by a mouthpiece 51 of a gas supply device having a valve rod 58 which is operated in connection with the valve lift stern 21, the supply of liquefied fuel to thefuel 'tank can be effected simply and exactly.

It is'thought that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

What I claim is:

1. A gas fueled lighter, comprising a casing including a fuel tank, a burner device including a tube having one end opening out of said casing through which gaseous fuel passes and burns at the said one end of said tube, and a fuel discharge device connected between .said tube and said fuel tank and comprising a hollow body extending into said tank, a thrust member having a bore therein mounted in said hollow body and dividing said hollow body into two sections, a valve member in said hollow body on the side of said thrust member remote from the end of said hollow -body which extends into said tank and engageable with said thrust member to open and close said bore, a portion of said thrust member on said side of said thrust member remote from the end of said hollow body which extends into said tank being smaller in diameter than the hollow in said hollow body and defining a gasification chamber between it and said hollow body, the other end of said tube opening into said gasification chamber, and valve actuation means coupled to said valve member for opening and closing said valve member, said fuel discharge device being out of alignment with the said one end of said tube, whereby said fuel discharge device can be placed in said lighter wihout regard to the location of the burner end of said tu e.

2. A gas fueled lighter as claimed in claim 1 in which said -valve actuation means comprises a first spring Apositioned between said valve member and said thrust member, and a second spring bearing against said valve member, and a push rod engaging said second spring and movable in said lighter in the same direction as said valve member, said second spring being' stronger than said rst spring when said second `spring is in at least a partially compressed condition, said lighter casing having a hinged lid thereon to which said push rod is coupled, whereby when said lid is down, said push rod at least partially compresses said second spring and forces said valve member into the closed position over the bore in said thrust member, and when said lid is raised, the force of said push rod on said second spring is released,

and said first spring expands and lifts said valve member away from said thrust member.

3. A gas fueled lighter as claimed in claim 1 in which said fuel discharge member further comprises a filter against the opposite side of said thrust member from said valve member, and a fine rod positioned in said bore in said thrust member and having an outside diameter less than the diameter of said bore and defining an annular fuel discharge orifice between said rod and said thrust member.

4. A gas fueled lighter as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a fuel inlet device in said fuel tank, said fuel inlet device comprising a casing defining a valve spring chamber mounted in said fuel tank and opening out of the fuel tank, said casing having a fuel inlet at the innermost end thereof and a gas outlet therein adjacent the wall of the fuel tank, a valve member slidably mound in said chamber for movement in a direction in and out of said fuel tank and being smaller in diameter than said chamber to define a gas escape passage between it and said chamber, said valve member covering said gas outlet and said gas escape passage when it is in the 7 8 l outermost position of its sliding movement, a valve stem References Cited by the Examiner member slidabiy Amounted in said valve member and being smaller in diameter than the aperture in the valve UNITED STATES PATENTS member through which it slides so as to define a fuel 3,050,973 8/ 1962 Goddard 67-7.1 passage through said valve member, said valve stem 5 3140593 7 /1964 Baumann et aL 67 7 1 member having a seat thereon engageable against the end 3141317 7/1964 S o 67 7 1 of the valve member facing into the fuel tank, and a eaawa valve spring between the vlv-e stem member and said casing urging said` valve stem member against said valve EDWARD I' MICHAEL Pnmmy Exammer' member and said valve stem member outwardly of said 10 chamber to its outermost position. 

1. A GAS FUELED LIGHTER, COMPRISING A CASING INCLUDING A FUEL TANK, A BURNER DEVICE INCLUDINGL A TUBE HAVING ONE END OPENING OUT OF SAID CASING THROUGH WHICH GASEOUS FUEL PASSES AND BURNS AT THE SAID ONE END OF SAID TUBE AND A FUEL DISCHARGE DEVICE CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID TUBE AND SAID FUEL TANK AND COMPRISING A HOLLOW BODY EXTENDING INTO SAID TANK, A THURST MEMBER HAVING A BORE THEREIN MOUNTED IN SAID HOLLOW BODY AND DIVIDING SAID HOLLOW BODY INTO TWO SECTIONS, A VALVE MEMBER IN SAID HOLLOW BODY ON THE SIDE OF SAID THRUST MEMBER REMOTE FROM THE END OF SAID HOLLOW BODY WHICH EXTENDS INTO SAID TANK AND ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID THRUST MEMBER TO OPEN AND CLOSE SAID BORE, A PORTION OF SAID THRUST MEMBER ON SAID SIDE OF SAID THRUST MEMBER REMOTE FROM THE END OF SAID HOLLOW BODY WHICH EXTENDS INTO SAID TANK BEING SMALLER IN DIAMETER THAN THE HOLLOW IN SAID HOLLOW BODY AND DEFINING A GASIFICATION CHAMBER BETWEEN IT AND SAID HOLLOW BODY, THE OTHER END OF SAID TUBE OPENING INTO SAID GASIFICATION CHAMBER, AND VALVE ACTUATION MEANS 